The General Welfare Clause of the United States Constitution grants authority to the federal government to expend funds that provide for the general welfare. If one were to apply utilitarian economic theory to the General Welfare Clause, one might reasonably conclude that the government only has...

The accounting and philosophical literature on tax evasion has been scant, at least until recently. The few articles that have discussed the ethics of tax evasion have usually taken either a generalist approach or have focused their attention on the ethics of evading income taxes. This article...

When one thinks of efficiency in connection with government budget and fiscal policy, the first thought is usually how to find ways to make the budget and fiscal process work more efficiently. How can the funds needed to pay for government be collected and disbursed with minimum cost? A...

The present paper is an empirical study, the goal of which is to determine the strength of various arguments that have been used to justify tax evasion and to determine whether results differ based on certain demographic variables. A survey instrument was constructed using a seven-point Likert...

Tax evasion has persistently carried severe penalties, although its intended deterrence effect is highly doubtful. We can safely say that it is based on the widely shared assumption among government officials that tax evasion is among the more serious crimes. In other words, the rationale of the...

There was a two-fold purpose in writing this paper. The main purpose was to discover how the populations of Moldova and Romania view tax evasion and whether opinions varied based on demographics. The second purpose, which may be more interesting from a sociological and political perspective, is...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated a regional accounting certification program in the Russian language several years ago. It started in Central Asia and spread to Ukraine and a few other former Soviet republics several years later. Headquarters for the...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated a regional accounting certification program in the Russian language several years ago. It started in Central Asia and spread to Russia and a few other former Soviet republics several years later. Headquarters for the...

Accounting certification in the former Soviet republics lacks credibility. Accountants are not familiar with International Financial Reporting Standards or International Standards on Auditing. Certifications can be bought. Audit opinions can be sold. Financial statements that are auditing by...